Latest revision as of 21:06, June 15, 2013

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When you first see a wiki, it doesn't seem like it could possibly work. If anybody can come along and change things, then how can the information be trusted? Doesn't it just get vandalized, or fall into chaos?

Once you start participating, you see that that "weakness" is actually a wiki's greatest strength. Sure, anybody can add anything -- and then everybody else gets to proofread it, and fix mistakes. Information that looks suspicious can be verified. Vandalism is quickly fixed. It's possible for someone to post errors, or nonsense -- but over time, the best wins out.

If you're reading these words, then you're a wiki editor. If you see a problem on one of the pages, don't roll your eyes and complain about it. Just fix it! Click edit at the top of the page and dive in. Be bold.

This wiki was inspired by requests to make the Solar Cookers World Network more interactive. We hope you will use this wiki to get ideas and contribute your own, to make contacts, to inspire others or to be inspired. We also hope this wiki will turn into the place on the internet to get information on solar cooker theory, designs, plans, strategies, contributors (large and small), activities, etc. This is our online village where we share our knowledge and plans to make solar cooking a reality around the world.

Log in and create a user name -- it'll help you (and everybody) keep track of your contributions. It's possible to post anonymously on this wiki, but be advised that anonymous posters are treated more skeptically. If we can see the pages you've added to, then we'll be more impressed with you, and more likely to trust.

You're also invited to post your name on your user page -- either your full name, or just a first name and an initial. It's not required, but it helps everyone get to know you and trust you.

You can set your language. This changes how the wiki talks to you, but not the text of the articles, which will still be mostly in English. #Using other languages has more on this subject.

You can change your display so that links show up as blue or red words, without the underlining. You can also change your time zone, and the number of items you see on the Recent Changes page or the Category list.

When you post a question on an article's talk page, you can list it in Active Talk Pages by adding a talk box. Just add this template to the top of the article page: {{talk}} -- that'll automatically add a box pointing people to your question, and it'll list you on the Active Talk Pages. You can browse through that list to find other ongoing discussions.

If you would like to translate pages in this wiki from English to any other language, that's great! Please contact one of the admins.

If you would like to create a version of this wiki in another language, that's great too! Again, please contact one of the admins. You would need to commit to being the admin - and to recruiting several people to help. It's a lot of work.

Before creating a new article, check that something similar doesn't already exist. You can search for it using the search box in the left menu frame, or look at the list of all the articles.

You can create a new article by including its name in double square brackets on another page: [[New page name]]. After saving the page, click on the red "New page name" link to create the page.

Alternatively, you can enter the page title in the box below and click the button:

In general, the first word of a new article name should be capitalized and the rest lower case (How solar cookers work) unless it's a proper noun (Solar Cookers International Association). Avoid ending article names with a dot; the URL breaks if pasted into an email. Article names should be singular, not plural, unless plural is the only form. The name should not begin with "a" or "the" unless it is the title of a book, film, or something similar.

You can put an article into a category by adding this code: [[Category:YourCategory]] . You can change the way the article is alphabetized within the category like this: [[Category:Who's who in the solar cooking movement|Sponheim]].

Before you create a category, check the Category list to see if there's a similar category that already exists. If the category doesn't exist yet, then adding that code will create the category. Be sure to add some text to the new Category page, or the link from your new article won't work properly.

Vandalism isn't much of a problem on a wiki, because everybody has the power to fix it when they see it. See the Vandalism help page for instructions on how to fix vandalized pages, and how to discourage the vandals.

We want to make it easy for people to buy solar cookers, so a brief summary of your products and your company contact information is fine - one or two entries on the Manufacturers and Vendors page and an overview of your company on your company page. Save the detailed specs for your own website.